Roaming Boomers Travel Services: #1 Viking River and Ocean Cruise Sellers in the Virtuoso Travel Network for 2017

Holy Cow!  Roaming Boomers Travel Services (that’s Carol and me) are the #1 sellers of Viking Ocean and River Cruises out of the 16,000 travel advisors in the Virtuoso Travel Network.

And, it seems that we are in the top 5 for all travel advisors in the world!

Carol and I just returned home from Virtuoso Travel Week in Las Vegas where roughly 6,000 luxury travel industry participants gathered to network, learn, pass out awards, and have a wee bit of fun.

While our travel agency is doing quite well for being a 3-year-old upstart, we didn’t quite realize how well we were doing until we had a meeting with Michele Saegesser, Vice President of Sales, The Americas, for Viking Cruises.

We sat down with Michele at our appointed time, where she, in turn, hopped to her feet, wiped her eye and proclaimed that she thought she might cry as she reached for a hidden box stored behind the couch.  As we were meeting with a Sr. VP, we thought we might get a nice thank you for the business, but we didn’t know what to make of her reaction to us.

I knew I was having a bad hair day, but I didn’t think it was that bad.  🙂

Anywho, she opened the box and pulled out this silver Viking ship mounted on a block of crystal proclaiming that Carol and I were the #1 booking Virtuoso travel advisors. We just learned that Virtuoso had grown to 16,000 travel advisors around the world, and we were #1?

Carol screamed and jumped up to hug Michele.  I sat on the couch dazed and completely dumbfounded.  I knew we were doing well, but number one?  We had no idea.

There was a little more screaming and hugging.  So much so, that people around us started to come see what all the fuss was about. Michele grabbed someone to take a photograph.  I handed him our phone as well, and my phone captured this goofy looking grin on my face with Carol looking beautiful as always.

We sat back down for a few minutes with Michele.  She looked at her computer and told us that we had booked $995,000 YTD to which my mind quickly calculated that we might well have $1,400,000 in bookings with Viking this year.  And then, I wondered, where might our production be a few years from now?  $3,0000,000?  $4,000,000?

Well, our 15-minute appointment time was quickly over, and Carol and I walked down the hallway saying, “what just happened”?

Carol was beaming, and I worked hard to conceal a tear that was forming in my eye.  After all, this was a long way from losing half of our money in the 2008 stock market crash just two years after we thought we had retired in 2006.

I suppose a younger man might think he was hot stuff, but I find myself thankful.

Thankful to our clients who entrust us with their travel dreams. Thankful to my bride who has the uncanny ability to book 50 cruises in a month and keep it all straight.  Thankful to Viking River and Ocean Cruises for giving our clients wonderful experiences time after time.  Thankful to Cadence and Virtuoso for providing the resources and networks to provide our clients with the best of the best.  And I’m thankful to God that we live in a country where a little ingenuity and hard work can provide Carol and me the opportunity to reinvent ourselves after being forced out of our early retirement.

In closing, I would be remiss if I didn’t ask, “Where can we help YOU sail with Viking Ocean or River Cruises”?

Links:

• Viking River Cruises
• Viking Ocean Cruises

 
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Roaming Boomers Travel Services is an Independent Affiliate of Cadence, a Virtuoso® member. CST#201120-40